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Genesis of a Community: The American Deaf Experience in the 17th and 18th…
Genesis of a Community: The American Deaf Experience in the 17th and 18th Centuries
Formal Education of Deaf Children of American Colonists
William Mercer's education focused on painting. The American deaf community considers Mercer one of the first
known congenitally deaf individuals in the United States to become a distinguished artist
John Brewster Jr. received private tutoring in painting
Other deaf children received private education in the colonies or in the early republic
Brewster produced folk art for decades
Influential parents were the first to receive formal private instruction
The Seventeenth Century
In 1641. Massachusetts adopted a code of laws protecting people who should be "exempted by any natural or personal impediment.."
Philip Nelson- questioned by a council of ministers for "pretending to cure a deaf & dumb boy in imitation of our Savior by saying [ Ephphatha]
Andrew Brown- embarked for America in 1636. He was involved in a reformation in Larne, County Antrim, Ireland
Rebecca Nurse- accused of witchcraft and hung at the age of 70
1618: Jesuits in America wrote to church officials inquiring whether a "deaf-mute Indian" could be admitted to the church
The Eighteenth Century
Garrick Mallery- compared signs of North American Indians with those of deaf people in his 1881 book, "Sign Language Among North American Indians"
Jeffrey E. Davis- Examined the linguistics of Indian signs
Sign language mentioned in the family records of Andrew Moore, whose descendants included 2 deaf brothers, Joseph and Jacob Moore, and a deaf relative, Jeremiah Moore
In 1776, Pennsylvania Magazine published a manual alphabet referred to as "Dumb Speech" as a means of carrying on a secret conversation
Educated American Colonists kept in touch with Europe through magazines
Deaf Experiences during the Revolutionary War
Joshua Graves- built the first framed barn in Salisbury
Deaf civilians during the American Revolution were also victims
In 1777, grandparents of frontiersman Davy Crockett were killed by Indians in their cabin; Two of their sons were at home that day
Encounters between Indians and colonists were violent and tragic
Fountain Smith, was kidnapped by the British and taken to prison.
The Role of Scientific Societies
Saboureux de Fontenay published a memoir on meteorology
Guillaume Armontos, laid the foundation for Fahrenheit's work with the thermometric scale
Charles Bonnet- became one of the first scientist to study parthenogenesis. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London
John Goodricke- received the Copley Medal from the Royal Society for his work in astronomy
Benjamin Franklin and John Quincy Adams were among the Americans who were aware of the pioneering educators in Europe during the 18th century
Isolated Attempts at tutoring in the 18th Century
Harrower had a notable success with his individual instruction of John Edge
James Rumsey- influential parent who sought support for his deaf child. He was also one of the inventors of the steamboat
Probably the 1st documented attempt at tutoring a deaf child in the American colonies before the Revolutionary War is found in the diary of John Harrower
Rumsey bitterly fought Robert Fulton, John Fitch, Oliver Evans, and others over patent rights
Nahum Brown- 4 years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed, and there is no record of how he was taught